The winter months are notoriously slow in the restaurant business. When I was still working the floor we’d go from 3 people at the door to 1. And the wait staff would go from 9 servers to 3. We’d run promotions for the concierges from local hotels, offer space for late holiday parties, provide better bar snacks during happy hour, pretty much pimp it up any way we could.

As a customer, you totally win. Whole cities now get into the spirit of getting you out of your jammies and into their dining and drinking establishments. Many of these events offer special menus, special pricing and even support a worthwhile cause, so you can eat and drink and help out someone else. Here are a few of your choices during these dark months. Get on your wellies, get out the door and party on!

SF Restaurant Week

January 20-31

Put on by the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, this year, SF Restaurant Week will feature two-course lunch and three or more course dinner menus at different prices: $15 & $25 for lunch, $40 & $65 for dinner. List of restaurants and menus is here. And the beneficiary of this year’s restaurant week is 50 Fund.

SF Beer Week

January 22-31

I’m guessing it’s no coincidence that SF Beer Week and superbowl are so close together. Drink beer, pick a favorite, then buy a six pack before the big game. Beer Week offers everything from corn hole tournaments (am I just too old to get this?) to home brewing to tasting the latest and the greatest. You can drink for a better world, or just drink cause you like it. This event is seriously all over town, so if you’re into beer this will be hard to miss. Take that Portland!

Eat Like a Chef Drink Like a Somm

January 25, February 29, March 28

Stone’s Throw owner Ryan Cole came up with a creative way to support local organizations, and he’s invited us all to his party. I am in! On the last Monday of our 3 darkest months, he turns his kitchen over to local chef celebs with the goal of donating to the Old Skool Cafe. Over the last two years he locally donated $59,000! At $60 per reservation, that is a pretty remarkable sum.

Flavor! Napa Valley

March 16-20

You might want to sleep over for this one. Over the course of 5 days Flavor! Napa Valley has everything from wine dinners to wine classes to golf tournaments to tours of the Napa Valley. Each event has an individual ticket price from $95 on up. Many of the events limit attendees so you get all that attention you so rightly deserve. The beneficiary is Culinary Institute of America at Greystone.

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…a compilation of interesting, and hopefully enlightening, information about the worlds of architecture, design and food. My belief is that by sharing what intrigues us, the world we create will become that much more remarkable. If you’d like this in your inbox….

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About me

At the core I am a story teller. I've been designing commercial interiors for over twenty years and writing for much longer than that.

When I'm not working on a project I'm creating note cards, jewelry, a better way to get through daily chores, my own stories both true and not so much, a new garden, furniture, recipes. And most importantly relationships....with family, friends and clients. I live near San Francisco with hubby, one small dog and five chickens and spend a great deal of time texting my children who are away at college.